Legalising documents in EU

The Finnish authorities may ask you to legalise a foreign document. This should be done in the country where the document was issued.

If the country in question has signed the Hague Convention of 1961, the document can be legalised using an Apostille. For more information about Apostille certificates and the authorities that issue them, visit the Hague Conventions website.

Certain public documents in the European Union are accepted without an Apostille according to a EU Regulation.

The Regulation covers public documents issued by the authorities of EU Member States, the primary purpose of which is to establish birth, death, name, marriage, registered partnership, parenthood, adoption, residence or citizenship, for example. The Regulation also covers criminal record extracts issued for the purpose of attesting that a person does not have a criminal record.